Katherine Punteney

Katherine Punteney, EdD, is an Associate Professor and Program Chair of the MA in International Education Management program. Punteney has over 20 years’ experience in the field of international education. Her experience spans sectors including public and private higher education, and for-profit and non-profit organizations. Punteney came to MIIS from California State University, Chico, where she was Coordinator of International Student Services and Campus Internationalization. In this role, she was actively involved in the recruitment, admissions, orientation, and advising of international students. In addition, she developed and managed the campus-wide strategy for internationalization.

Punteney’s international experience includes three years teaching English in Japan and four years in India running exchange programs for the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts. While in India, Katherine managed an international staff team and incorporated intercultural workshops into the Girl Scout programs. A highlight of her tenure in India was conceptualizing, developing, and facilitating an international service-learning program in cooperation with local community organizations.

Professionally, Punteney is actively involved in NAFSA: Association of International Educators where she holds two volunteer positions. As the NAFSA Teaching, Learning, and Scholarship representative for California, Nevada and Hawaii, she promotes research and works to ensure that the association meets the needs of graduate students. She has also been selected as a NAFSA Trainer Corps member, offering international student advising and intercultural communication training workshops for professionals.

Courses Taught

This course will focus on the experiences of people who identify as Bicultural or Multicultural. Through reading first-person accounts, engaging with experiential activities, and studying theories of identity development, the dynamics of biculturalism and multiculturalism will be explored. The course will conclude with recommendations for supporting individuals with bicultural and multicultural identities.

Viewing higher education administration through the lenses of campus business offices, student services, and academic programs, systems theory will be used to examine the impact of university culture upon higher education administration practices. This course also investigates how management and leadership styles have an impact on higher education administration practices.

This course explores approaches to developing the global competence of youth in formal and non-formal education. Topics include curricular and co-curricular program development, international travel and study, the use of technology, and policy initiatives.

This foundational course will introduce students to the breadth of the international education field. Course content will emphasize fundamental principles of international education through a focus on seminal literature in the field. Additionally, the course will emphasize exploration of career specializations through interactions with practitioners and individual course assignments.

Exploring the role of international student and school services (ISSS) offices in U.S. higher education, this course will explore the research and best practices in relation to orientation programs; academic and social integration of international students, scholars, and their families; ISSS office structures; U.S. visa types and immigrations regulations; restrictions on employment; and the role of the international student and scholar advisor.

Areas of Interest

If she wasn’t an international educator, Dr. Punteney says that she would be a career counselor. Her dedication to career advising is evident in her teaching and interaction with students. In the introductory course that she teaches, Principles and Practices of International Education, she helps students explore a wide range of international education specialties, network with professionals, craft their resumes, and build professional websites showcasing their work. In addition to advising students individually and in class, her research focuses on how graduate education is developing international education scholar-practitioners and how the internationalization of higher education prepares students at all education levels for careers and lives in an intercultural world.